chasing rainbows can be fun [natalie]

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The Yule Ball was in full swing, and Jamie had finally been able to try that happy tears that hadn't been able to stop falling down her face since she had seen Maxima step into the room. Her little sister was beautiful, and Jamie had gotten a little (okay, a lot) emotional about the fact that she might not have gotten to see that moment. But though there were some sad tears in the mix, mostly, Jamie was just happy. Happy to get to spend the night with her sister and happy to see anyone and everyone dressed to the nines. It was quite the production, Jamie thought. Max had gone to get a drink or something of the sort, but Jamie's feet weren't anywhere near sore yet, which mean that she needed to find a new dance partner. It seemed everyone else had a partner, so Jamie began scanning the crowd, until they alighted on somebody blonde. Harper's mother. Jamie shrugged to herself. Why not? She approached the woman with a large smile on her face. "Would you like to dance?" Maybe Mrs. Weasley wouldn't know who she was, but they had a whole dance to fix that.

@natalie
dress

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Natalie had just finished forcing her son to speak with her but he walked away soon after to catch up with the girl he was with. Her Xavier. With a girl. It was a strange thought but it made her incredibly happy! Her boy deserved some sunshine in his life and that girl seemed to have a lot of it. She was just happy watching the kids dance for now until she saw a blonde, with a smile that could light up the world, walking toward her. She'd seen that blonde before. Her name was... "Jamie!" Natalie greeted, remembering the girls name as she asked her to dance. "Yes, I'd love to," she said, holding her hand out for Jamie to take and allowing the girl to lead her onto the dance floor.

She remembered this girl! Whilst at Graduation last Spring Natalie didn't take her eyes off her Harper for one second. Jamie was there, too, and Natalie had seen the two girls kiss. According to Harper, they were dating. Now that Harper was out of town, though, Natalie didn't know what had happened between the two of them.

@jamie

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Apparently, she had been recognized. Jamie’s smile broadened. “It’s good to meet you, Mrs. Weasley.” Jamie said, since the two had never officially been introduced when she was dating harper. There were definitely other times Jamie could have been seen, given how prone Harper had been to public displays of affection. And, of course, Jamie recognized her from the same family photos that allowed her to recognize Harper’s father. “Sorry that I never got around to that, by the way.” Jamie said sheepishly. Even though it had probably been Harper’s responsibility to organize that sort of thing, Jamie still felt bad about it. She hadn’t been able to introduce Harper to her own mother due to the falling out they had, so Jamie thought perhaps Harper was just trying to keep things from being awkward or something of the sort. “I’m not the best dancer, so forgive me for trodding on your toes, if I do.” Jamie was going to try her best not to, and she was pretty sure she hadn’t hurt Max earlier, but it was always best to put that disclaimer into place early, rather than wait until the damage was already done.

@natalie

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"Oh no, no. Please call me Natalie," she offered when Jamie called her 'Mrs. Weasley. "There are so many of those and I like to be unique," she said, giving a little smirk. She was proud of her husbands name, sure, but she didn't like sharing a title so much or sounded like an old lady. Jamie said she was sorry that she'd never got around to 'that' and Natalie wasn't sure what she meant at first. Perhaps, introducing herself while with Harper? "It's alright, dear. We're talking now, aren't we?" Then the two were out on the floor, taking position and starting to Dance. "My toes are tough as steel, don't worry. So," Natalie raised an eyebrow, "I'm afraid I don't remember your last name. Remind me?"

@jamie

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Natalie. That was such a pretty name, Jamie mused. “Alright.” She agreed amicably. She had long since learned that adults who wanted to be called by their first names weren’t going to give in on that position easily. Jamie laughed a little when Natalie said that there were a lot of Mrs. Weasleys. Jamie had thought that she would become one one day, but that wasn’t how things were looking at the moment. “Well, it’s a nice last name to have.” Much better than Jamie’s own. The pair began to dance, and Jamie found that she was doing surprisingly well. Maybe it was that she had warmed up with Max, or that Jamie felt oddly at ease despite the fact that this was the first time she was meeting her ex-girlfriend’s mother. That ease drained away, though, when Natalie asked for her surname. Part of Jamie was tempted to lie – she had, after all, seriously considered changing her last name to Donovan – but she knew it wouldn’t end well for her if she did. “Greyback.” Jamie said simply, deciding to let the word speak for itself.

@natalie

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"It is a nice last name, yes. But it is rather... everywhere," she mused. Natalie was a good dancer and therefore was doing just fine even if Jamie did have mess ups here and there. Natalie could easily counter whatever Jamie did. Then Jamie gave her last name and Natalie simply gave a nod. "Greyback, lovely," her voice was casual and calm, as if she was saying the last name 'Smith' or something simple like that. It didn't matter. "So, if I may... are you still in touch with Harper?" Natalie asked. May as well get this out of the way.

@jamie

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Jamie couldn’t disagree with the fact that the last name Weasley was everywhere. Their Minister of Magic was a Weasley, and one of the most popular Wizarding joke shops also boasted the name in their title. And then in Hogwarts, it seemed like half of Gryffindor house was related to a Weasley in some way or another. Jamie was glad that Natalie hadn’t commented on her last name, at least not negatively. When the question came about Harper, Jamie stumbled a little in her dancing. Huh. That was weird. She hadn’t thought she was that upset about the whole situation with Harper, and definitely not enough to warrant a dancing fluke. Maybe that was just her being clumsy, Jamie thought with an internal roll of her eyes. “No, not really.” Jamie said with a shrug. “We already had a few disagreements over owl, and we thought now that it was actually going to be a legitimate long distance relationship, we wouldn’t be able to make it work. We’re both…passionate people, I guess you could say, and that doesn’t always come over best in owls.” When Harper had been close enough that Hogsmeade visits were easy and their owls made the trip in less than an hour, things were hard, but they worked. But now…not so much.

@natalie

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Natalie didn't miss a beat in reacting to that stumble, chuckling a little as it happened. Jamie answered her, saying that her and Harper weren't really in contact and speaking of their arguments. She nodded. She understood that, definitely. Natalie herself was a slave to passion, but luckily she didn't have to worry about distance that much. Her husband was often out on the job, but she found a lot of other things to be passionate about while he was gone. Plus, they were an established, many years, relationship. "Well, I am sorry that it didn't work out. But I'm glad that you're both doing well," she said. "I mean, you look well," she added. She didn't know this girls life, not really.

@jamie

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Jamie was glad that Natalie was a more experienced dancer than she was – the stumbled hardly broke their rhythm, and it was easier for Jamie to get back into the flow of the dancing. When Natalie apologized for the relationship not working out, Jamie just shrugged. “I’m kind of hoping that whenever she gets back, we can try again, but that’s not entirely my choice.” Jamie said ruefully. There was always the chance that Harper would find someone better, as much as it hurt Jamie to think that. Jamie smiled again when Natalie said that she looked well. “You should have seen me earlier this month. I was a mess.” But Jamie wasn’t one to give up, nosirree. She had fought to be happy again, and this was where it had brought her. Jamie wouldn’t have rather been anywhere else at that moment – she was happy right where she was.

@natalie

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Natalie pursed her lips in thought for a moment, then gave another nod. "I think Harper would love to talk it out, at least. But, alas, I can't speak for the girl. She's a free spirit," she chuckled, "as I'm sure you know," she added. She didn't see anything wrong with acknowledging how well Jamie must have known the girl. It was recent and it was Jamie's reality, she hoped it wouldn't upset her. Then Jamie spoke about how she was a mess earlier this month and Natalie frowned slightly, but it didn't last. "Well, you just sent those demons straight back to hell, didn't you?" she said, before gently pushing on Jamie's shoulder and extended her arm in an attempt to guide Jamie in a little spin out.

@jamie

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Jamie laughed when Natalie called Harper a free spirit. “I definitely do know it.” That had been one of the things that Jamie had loved – and still loved, really – about Harper. She was never afraid to do things the way she wanted to do them, not like Jamie was sometimes. It was strange, Jamie thought, how easy it had been to let go of Harper for that reason. At least it had been an amicable breakup, a mutual decision. If she had been dumped, Jamie might have been singing a different song, but as things stood, Jamie was alright. “I had a little help.” Jamie said before spinning out. When she spun back in, she let out a little giggling laugh. “My sisters are pretty great, so it was nice to have them.” For all their differences, Jamie loved Odette, and her love for Lily and Max really went without saying anymore. They had seen her drag herself through hell, and Jamie wasn’t sure if she would’ve been able to get out of it without them.

@natalie

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Natalie was glad that Jamie understood how Harper worked, and Jamie seemed okay with discussing it, that laugh of hers gave Nat that impression. Jamie was honest and bright, a lot like Natalie herself. Maybe that was one of the reasons why Harper had taken to Jamie. Some girls fell for people like their dads, maybe Harper fell for someone like her mom. Natalie was flattered by that theory.

Jamie spoke of her sisters helping her, letting out that happy little giggle as she spun back to Natalie. "How many sisters do you have?" she asked, returning Jamie back to the standard dancing position.

@jamie

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Natalie seemed to be asking all the tricky questions lately, Jamie thought. That didn’t keep her from smiling, though. Just because some people didn’t understand how Jamie loved Lily Potter didn’t mean that they weren’t still sisters. “Three of them. One older, two younger. Same thing for brothers, but I'm not as close to them.” At least Jamie assumed Elias was younger, though she couldn’t be sure. If she ever bothered to remember, she would ask him about that. “What about you? You got a lot with the marriage, but do you have any of your own?” There were what, ten Weasley in-laws? Yes, that seemed right to Jamie. There were six Weasley siblings, minus the one Natalie was married to, and each had a spouse. Ten in laws. That was crazy!

@natalie

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Natalie didn't realize she was interrogating Jamie, but she kind of was. She grinned as Jamie spoke of her siblings. "Big family. You're very lucky," she said. She meant it, too. And Jamie's next question led her to explain why she believed that. "I'm an only child," she explained. "Raised by just my father in America until I was ten, then I went to live with my mother," she explained, "I was the only child either of them had, so. My mother, thankfully, didn't have any more. She didn't even want one!" she laughed, maybe a little sadly at the story.

@jamie

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Jamie knew that she was lucky to have her family, but it was still kind of weird to have someone else acknowledge it, especially since everyone seemed to fixate so much on the whole Greyback thing, rather than the siblings party. “It’s kind of a new thing.” Within the past year, Jamie had had six people enter her life in a way she hadn’t had anyone ever be before. It was still a strange thought. “My mom didn’t really want me, either.” Jamie commiserated. “She was only eighteen when I was born.” Then, haltingly, “We don’t talk anymore.” Jamie felt a pang of sadness. She was actually kind of disappointed that she wasn’t dating Harper anymore, just because now there was no chance Natalie would one day be a part of her family.

@natalie